


Seven Crowns

by Skullszeyes



Category: Banana Bus Squad
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Arguing, Awkward Flirting, Banishment, Being Lost, Best Friends, Blood and Injury, Boys Kissing, Caves, Curses, Eventual Romance, First Crush, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Healing, High Fantasy, Humor, Idiots in Love, Injury Recovery, Inspired by Roleplay/Roleplay Adaptation, Love, M/M, Magic, Magical Artifacts, Magical Realism, Male Friendship, Male Slash, Mild Gore, Monsters, Mutual Pining, Not Beta Read, POV Alternating, POV Multiple, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Male/Male Relationships, Platonic Relationships, Quests, Secret Crush, Slow To Update, Survival, Swearing, Swordfighting, Swords, Treasure Hunting, Weird Plot Shit, Wilderness, Wilderness Survival
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2020-06-25 23:56:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19756375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skullszeyes/pseuds/Skullszeyes
Summary: Evan hardly understands the world he inhabits alongside his friends, but as the days go by during his short lived exile, and the strange things happening around his friends, he'll have to venture out into the world to protect and save them from the world that is trying to separate them in.





	1. Exile

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is inspired by the BBS _(mostly from Vanoss' pov)_ Minecraft adventures! And most of the events will be completely made up by me, but there will be references to the videos. :D I'm unsure about romance, but I do love **H2oVanoss**. So maybe I'll put in **Krii7y** , but I'm unsure atm. There will be plot related stuff, so hopefully, maybe, you'll enjoy that as well. :D
> 
> fyi, I do suffer from major depression, and my episodes last months _(usually 3-4)_ , so this story and any other story might not be updated until it's over.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy this story.
> 
> Comments and/or Kudo's are appreciated.

“It’s Brian,” Evan said.

“Where?” Tyler asked, walking over to him where Evan was squatted behind a tree. 

“Right here…” Evan chuckled, and revealed a duck that Evan was poking a stick with. The duck quacked at him as Evan prodded it, and Tyler tsked.

“Oh, Brian, how’s it going?” he asked.

Evan frowned as the duck started to walk away. “Wait! Where’s it going?” 

“Come here, Brian!” Evan’s eyes widened, and his mouth fell open as Tyler started hitting the duck with pieces of dirt. “Come here, you stupid piece of shit!”

“Brian! Are you going to fight back?” Evan asked, racing after Tyler as the duck tried to get away from him. 

“Yeah, take that!” Tyler said.

“Oh shit,” Evan stared at a group of grey looking figures near bushes and a tree. They looked kind of strange, unlike the green creatures that always seems to explode. Tyler was too preoccupied trying to kill the fleeing duck. 

“It’s Nogla!” Evan said in amazement.

One of the creatures had a bow and arrow, and they let one fly through the air, missing Tyler’s head by two centimeters.

“Oh shit,” Tyler gasped, almost stumbling back. “Fuck, these guys are mean!” Evan chuckled as he followed a freaked out Tyler through the trees. “Ah,” Tyler stumbled, “they shot me!”

Evan stood to the side while Tyler flailed, “You have an arrow in your back,” he pointed out. It was truly sticking out of him, the end was flat and wooden, not as strong as Brian’s arrows were, but it also looked painful. 

“I know!” Tyler said, heading away from the creatures shooting arrows at them, “I know, don’t go down there!” 

“Ow…ow!” Evan glanced down, pinpricks stabbing into his legs as Tyler’s figure disappeared past several trees, “what’s going on?” 

“Come up here,” Tyler called from the hill.

“Ow!” Evan fought his way through the bushes, following Tyler’s voice, “what the hell was that shit?” 

“I don’t know, they have fucking crossbows!” Tyler said. “Hey! There’s Brian!” 

Evan climbed the hill and spotted a group of large trees, and followed where Tyler was pointing at. What he was amazed at was the tree Brian had climbed. Evan jumped from the hill toward a tree, and to his rather failed expectation, he fell out of the tree.

“Ow…” Evan groaned, rubbing the back of his head as he got to his feet. Tyler was already at the bottom of the hill, heading toward Brian. Evan sprinted after him and looked up at Brian. “What’s up, man?”

Brian looked down at them, and said, “Watch out, those fucking bushes hurt you!” 

“Oh,” Evan said, realizing that’s what was hurting him not too long ago. Tyler met him in a clearing away from the thorn bushes, and pulled out a weapon.

“You have a sword, right?” he asked Evan, frowning at him and possibly mentally knowing without them that Evan would die a lonely death.

Evan pulls out his sword from his flimsy sheath at his side. “Yeah, I have a sword. See,” Evan proceeds to hit Tyler with said sword. 

“Ow!” Tyler scowled at him, “Okay, yeah, yeah, bitch! I see it, you fuck!” Takes out his own sword, and hits Evan with it. It’s wooden, and even though it has a sharp end, it still hurts on the dull side. 

Evan frowns, rubbing his arm and knowing for sure he’s about to get another bruise from Tyler. He’s amazed that Tyler isn’t as hindered with his previous wound after getting shot in the back with an arrow.

“It’s called food,” Tyler tells him in explanation about how he no longer feels pain. He even shows Evan the wound, and there’s actually no wound on his back at all.

“You got shot in the back,” Evan says in a deadpan tone that speaks enough disbelief that doesn’t warrant any sarcasm from Tyler.

“Just fucking show me your stances,” Tyler tells him. 

“Why can’t Scotty do shit like this.”

“He’s with Marcel, collecting Panda’s for Panda, now fucking show me your stance, or you can check out those guys with the crossbow.”

Evan grudgingly does as he’s told and is hit a few times in the next several minutes after showing Tyler the wrong fighting stance. There’s going to be bruises there, and it’s going to be a hard time trying to ignore those same bruises. 

“You’re going to get yourself killed,” Tyler muttered under his breath.

“Are you that afraid?”

Tyler glares, “I’m not sure. Maybe you deserve it for your inept ability of being alive.”

“That’s rude.”

“It’s rude that you can’t seem to understand the concept of surviving in this fucking harsh ass world,” he hits Evan again, “now show me again!”

Evan glances to the side when Tyler is explaining to him the proper and easiest stance that he can do. Something that has to do with defensive stances of some kind. Evan is a little distracted by a random figure appearing from the trees, wearing a bent out of shape hat, and a cloak that drags on the forest floor that’s a shade of blue and turquoise, maybe a slight brown peeks through. 

“Who the fu—who’s this guy?” he asks Tyler who glances to the side.

He almost laughs at Tyler’s eyes widening before he books it the other way. “He’s a wizard! He throws shit!”

“What?” Evan asked, still confused, and worried. 

“Run, run, run!” Tyler and Brian say in unison. 

“He throws poisonous potions at us,” Tyler shoves Evan forward when he was about to glance back, glass shatters on the ground as the wizard follows them through the trees. 

“Brian, where you at?” Evan asked in a deadpan tone as he follows Tyler for the last five minutes, unsure if they’re lost in the woods or when the wizard is getting bored of chasing them. He’s not entirely sure why the wizard hasn’t run out of potions from its rather slim cloak.

“I’m in the trees, I see you, I see you!” he calls in the same panic tone as Tyler. “I’m behind the wizard!”

Tyler turns the moment he says that, taking out his wooden sword. “Let’s go gang bang the wizard!”

“Has that ever been said before?” Evan laughs as he continues to follow Tyler whose already hitting the wizard in the face with his sword.

“Ow!” Evan said, getting hit in the arm as Brian jumps from the trees above. Leaves flutter around them.

“Sorry,” Brian said, holding his sword, “I think I hit you!”

“You think?” Evan asked, frowning, and rubbing his arm.

“This guys getting fucked up!” said Tyler, cutting into the wizard. 

“Fuck you!” Brian says to the wizard as they pummel it to the ground. 

“Yeah,” Evan celebrates as the wizard dies at their feet. He’s not entirely sure why they’re celebrating murdering some random guy, but he’s more focused on Tyler rummaging through the wizard’s cloak.

“I got his potion,” Tyler muses, holding a tear drop looking potion with red liquid inside of it, a cork keeps it from spilling out, and when Evan leans closer, he sees that the contents inside are sparkling. Then Tyler’s eyes widen, and he says with amazement, “it’s a potion of healing!”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Evan wonders, staring at the potion.

Tyler wrinkles his nose at Evan’s inquiry before looping a cord around the neck of the potion at his belt, and lets it hang there. “It means, it’s none of your business, now let’s go!”

Evan grumbles out a swear as he follows Tyler through the trees where they meet up with Brian. He stands off to the side, folding his arms and watching Brian hitting the tree with an axe. 

“What are you doing?” Evan asked, laughing, “why are you in such a hurry?” 

“Because we’re going to die!” Brian says at the same time as Tyler who exclaims, “eventually it’s going to be night time, and zombie’s come out and they’ll kill us!”

“You don’t realize the severity of our situation,” Brian said, threatening Evan with the axe he was previously hitting the tree with. 

Tyler stood off to the side, already breaking into the side of the hill. “I’m making this into a cave so we have a place to sleep.”

Evan stumbled away from Brian’s axe and entered the cave. He marvels over Tyler’s hard work. “Wow! It’s nice and cozy in here.”

After several hours of Evan not doing anything besides sitting in the corner, watching Tyler and Brian work at building them a stable home before nightfall. He gets bored and decides to try and mess with Tyler.

“Don’t drink that,” Tyler told him when Evan took the healing potion from his belt. “That’s rare ass shit, don’t drink it.”

Evan marveled over it. “So, we need this in case a big battle happens?” he asked. It was small, not enough for the three of them unless they don’t panic and drink it all at once. 

“Yeah. Don’t fucking drink it, right now, just hold it.” Lately, Evan has been thinking whenever he’s given a task to do, he’s always being threatened with a sword or a pickaxe to the face. Tyler emphasizes this important task with the end of his sword against Evan’s neck, barely grazing the skin. “You’re useless as shit right now.”

“Okay, okay,” Evan said as Tyler pulled back the sword and went back to working. “I won’t drop the damn potion.”

Brian had made a stove where he was cooking meat he had scavenged from earlier. He didn’t tell Evan the basics but that he’d be doing the same sooner or later. 

“Unless we eat the pig,” Evan whispered, glancing at Tyler who scowled at him. 

“How about we don’t resort to cannibalism while we’re lost in the Plain Wood,” Tyler said, shoving Evan in the shoulder. 

“Who calls it the Plain Wood?” Evan asked, frowning at the dumb name. 

“The ancient text,” Brian replied. 

Evan wasn’t convinced by the answer and asked for a more in depth explanation. He watched Brian create a helmet which Tyler placed on his head. They had gathered iron for several hours since they were lost within _The Plain Wood,_ and they were quick to find resources. 

“You and that fucking duck,” Tyler had muttered about Evan’s lack of attentive capabilities. 

“We call it Frey,” Tyler said about the language.

“And you can read it?” Evan asked while Tyler opened the door to the makeshift house they had crafted. He didn’t expect Brian to be great at carving wood they had found into two stable doors, and he had placed it in the doorway Tyler smoothed down.

“Somewhat,” Brian said, getting up from the ground after creating a new sword. 

“It’s night time,” Tyler told them as they all walked out, and Evan glanced up to the sky with its scattered stars. He hadn’t seen so much since they left the village a few hours ago. He didn’t expect to deal with all of this in the wilderness, and be threatened constantly by his friend’s.

Which wasn’t exactly new, his other friend’s also threatened him a lot. 

_“It’s either a few days with Tyler and Brian out in the wilderness, or you can hang out by yourself until you’re killed by a zombie,” Marcel said, everyone else backing this idea up, a few of them smirking._

_“A what?” Evan asked._

And that entire conversation was stalled and he was forced out of their village. It’s only been a few hours since he, Tyler, and Brian left. He wasn’t sure when they were allowed to return. He hoped soon, but he highly doubted it. Maybe they’ll die, and his friend’s will regret their decision.

“They’re not going to regret it,” Brian had said when Evan brought it up as they stuck torches into the ground and lit it with a fire Brian had created with grass, a rock, and some sturdy sticks. “It was either have the zombie’s kill you, or they’ll do it.”

“They’ll actually kill me?” Evan asked. “After all that I did for them?”

Brian frowned at Evan, “You do shit all. Everyone created the house you live in, and they forage and hunt for food. You barely leave your bed if it wasn’t for Nogla setting it on fire.”

“When we go back, can you make me a new bed?”

Brian scoffed. “When? I’m pretty sure they’re waiting to find our dead bodies in the next few months.”

“Why months?”

“Well, you’re with me and Tyler, and we were the two other providers of the village, so we either make do with the enemies out in the Plain Wood, or we die.” Brian shrugged. “It’ll take time is what I’m saying.”

“Oh, look,” Tyler said in a soft voice, “there’s a deadly bunny rabbit right here.” 

Brian and Evan appeared around Tyler before he took out his sword. “Where?” Evan asked.

“Charge!” Tyler said, chasing after the bunny that was hopping away from him, while Tyler held his sword into the air. “We’re eating the bunny!” 

As they drew deeper into the woods and there were no torches to light their way. Brian successfully found another bunny, while Tyler made a comment that a second bunny was going to lead them away from home. 

“Guys…” Evan called, standing by himself, surrounded by trees and darkness, “I don’t know where I am.” 

“I found you!” Brian said, and then he started screaming, “Evan! Watch out!”

He wasn’t sure what he was talking about until he heard crackling and growls coming from beside him, and Brian’s form appeared from the trees. He pulled back his arm and threw his sword into the air, while Evan fell onto the ground. Scrambling away from the green creature.

The sword slashed through the creature’s head, it growled, flailing its arms covered in putrid skin that was dry. It also smelled strongly of burning flesh and dirt. Foam thickened around its mouth. 

Brian ran past him, grasped for the handle of his sword, tore it out without a moment’s notice, and slashed its head right off its shoulders. 

Evan gasped as he spotted the head hitting the ground and rolling down the incline of the earth. 

Brian slashed at the flailing body until it was no longer on its feet. He reached down and grasped for Evan’s extended hand, and pulled him up.

“Are you alright?” he asked, breathing hard.

Evan stared at Brian with amazement, “That was awesome, you’re awesome, Brian!”

Brian smirked, “Thanks, but we should get out of here before more come!” 

“It was a _foamer_ , Brian,” Evan said as they both crashed through the trees and back to the path of light where Tyler was waiting by the front doors of their house, waving his hand at them. 

“It’s another type of zombie,” Brian said, “they creep up on you.”

Evan slowed his pace, panting, “No, that thing was foaming from the mouth. It’s now called a Foamer.” 

Once inside the house, Brian opened the chest and passed him some berries. “Nibble on that, you’ll be fine.”

Evan looked at the red round berries, and plopped a few in his mouth. “Should I bring something back to the house?”

“I mean...yeah,” Tyler said, hitting the wall with his pickaxe to extend the room.

“So...dirt?”

Brian grimaced, “Thanks for your contribution, Evan, but no.”

Evan ate the rest of the berries, happily thinking about finding piles of dirt and filling the chest. Maybe that’ll help him feel less useless.

A few hours later, Tyler peeked out the front door and gasped. 

“It’s about to be daytime, guys, come watch the sunrise!” Tyler said, already sprinting off through the trees.

Evan and Brian tried to keep up, and all Evan could think of was that he wasn’t exactly proficient at fighting besides swinging and hoping it hit a vital part of the body. 

“Nevermind!” Tyler said, sprinting past them. “There’s more zombie’s over there. Let’s go!”

“You have an arrow in your shoulder,” Evan pointed out.

“Yeah, let’s go back inside,” Tyler said. 

He didn’t understand why Tyler always had one sticking from his back. It looked quite deep too, and whenever he or Brian tore it out, he would quickly start eating and the wound would be gone. They always said Evan had to get out of the house, but if it meant getting shot with arrows, why would he?

Once they returned to the house, Evan sat by the front doors, listening to the growling and moaning on the other side. He looked over at Tyler who hadn’t taken the arrow out yet, while Brian was cooking something at the stove. 

“I hear them,” Evan whispered.

Tyler chuckled, gripping the handle of his sword. He stepped toward the door and opened it, and Evan gasped when he saw the zombie was different from the Foamer he had ran into earlier, and it groaned, arms reaching for them before Tyler closed the door on it. 

Brian, finally noticing what they were doing, and gasped at the sight of the zombie. “Can we keep him! Can we keep him!”

Tyler opened the door and to Evan’s amazement, something he knew, wouldn't go away any time soon, slashed the zombie in the face and kicked it back outside. “No,” he told Brian, closing the door and grimacing at the pieces of flesh on his sword.

Brian lowered his head, “Aw.”

“It’s okay, Brian,” Evan said, walking over to him, “we can find another one and bring it back to the house later.”

Brian smiled, nodding at Evan’s plan. 

“If you bring another fucking zombie here,” Tyler said, standing five feet away, the house wasn’t that big enough for the three of them, “I’ll kill you both and feed the remains to that fucking zombie!”

Evan laid down on the floor, grinning at Brian, who was across the room from him. They didn’t have proper beds yet, but tomorrow, they’ll be solving that issue. Tyler also wanted to find more valuable ore so they can craft stronger armour and weapons.

“If we’re going to die here, we might as well survive,” Tyler muttered.

“That doesn’t make sense,” Evan whispered.

“Shut the fuck up, and go to sleep!”

Evan held in his laugh, and even though he was cold, the day had been disastrous and it tired him out to the point he fell asleep. 


	2. Blue Eggs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by Vanoss's video, Finding a Canadian Treasure Map!   
> I did get most of my inspiration from this video, and added in my own stuff as well! :D 
> 
> I hope you enjoy.
> 
> Comments and/or Kudo's are appreciated.

“It’s flint,” Tyler tells Evan as the sun vanishes behind a group of trees. 

Evan furrows his brows and when he tries to light the wood, he feels a terrible burning sensation engulf him, and he’s screaming, and running in circles.

“Water!” Tyler screams over Evan, and he’s for sure notices Brian appearing with a bucket, and while Evan thinks of falling onto the grass and rolling around, he’s splashed with cold water that soaked his clothes he had washed and dried this morning. 

Tyler laughs, and Brian is staring with a worried expression at Evan, asking him if he’s okay. 

Evan slowly turns, unsure of how to express how he feels, and nods at them. “I’m okay.”

Tyler knelt down and picked up the flint. He lights the wood and gives Evan a raised brow. “Don’t you ever listen?”

Evan plops down in the grass, letting out a sigh. His clothes weren’t that badly damaged, and Brian had given him a vial to drink to heal himself while he heads back into the makeshift house for the fish.

“I was listening.”

“You were on fire just a few seconds ago,” Tyler said, shaking his head, “you obviously weren’t listening.”

Evan took small sips of the vial and it tasted almost like a lemon. “Do all these taste differently?”

“Depends.”

“On what?”

Tyler glanced up and glared at him. “Just fucking drink it, you ass. If you didn’t set yourself on fire, we wouldn’t be using it on you.”

Brian returned from their house and wandered over to them with the fish. He set it down on a wooden slab that was smoothed out a day ago by Tyler. 

“How are we going to do—” Brian stabbed the fish through and placed the end of the stick or something resembling a stick, into the ground, and made sure the fish was placed close to the fire so it can roast. 

“Oh,” Evan said, leaning forward.

“Take off your shirt, Evan,” Brian said, stabbing another fish. 

Evan slowly nodded and did as Brian told him and set his clothes down on the grass. “They’ll get dirty.”

“You can clean them again tomorrow,” Tyler said, leaning back against his arms. His eyes looking like liquid through the fire across from Evan. 

It was a little chilly and he moved closer to the fire, listening to Brian and Tyler talk about what they were going to do tomorrow. A new day. Evan wanted to explore some more. They were right about one thing. He wasn’t really attentive to his surroundings, and used others for that. He trusted them enough to give the right information, and they knew of his own antics to understand his need for it. 

Everything worked out in that way. One information passing through the ear and mouth to another. His friends, Brian and Tyler weren’t simple minded, and he was confident their information would be correct. Not like it has ever led him astray.

“Where are we going tomorrow?” Evan asked them, watching the fish as the flames cooked them, and Brian moved them around so the other sides could be roasted.

“We’re leaving the island,” Tyler tells him, and this brings a frown to Evan’s face. “Not for good, quit looking like that.”

Evan sighs, he’s not sure if it’s relief. “Then why are we leaving? And do we have too?”

“We don’t have too,” Brian said. “Except it’d be good if we explored some more in other places, unlike what we did with our friends.”

“And you think this is a good idea?” 

“We’re not leaving for good,” Tyler repeated, exasperated. “We’ll only be gone for a day or two.” 

Evan nodded, finding relief in that statement, he waited and watched, and became impatient until Brian said the fish was good to eat. And they ate, talking about what they’ll be doing, and what direction they’ll be heading. 

Tyler, at the moment, was the navigator, and Brian will supply the boat and gather the other supplies they’ll need for the trip.

“What will I do?” Evan asked them. 

“Just stand there and don’t get in the way,” Brian said, giving him a half smile. 

“Exactly,” Tyler said with less amusement. “You might accidentally burn our boat, and then what?”

Evan chuckled. “Then we’ll have a burning boat.”

“Yeah, laugh it up, but we need it to get home, idiot.”

They spent the rest of the night, eating their fish, laughing around the campfire, and when it was time to sleep. Evan hung his wet clothes on a wire Brian had created for them to dry their clothes. And he curled himself on his bed and fell asleep. 

The next day, his friends had awakened him until it was time to go. Brian already built the boat they’ll need, while Tyler was telling Evan where they’ll be heading. And all Evan could see were an expanse of water and ice on the other side. He was a little chilly and covered himself with a coat he had sewn together one evening, and frowned at their destination.

“Are you serious?” Evan asked, staring down at the boat that Tyler and Brian were sitting in, they were holding the two individual oars, and glaring at him. 

“Get in.”

“It’s cold,” Evan complained.

“Yeah, well, tough shit, get in the boat,” Tyler said. 

Evan sighed, he didn’t want to be alone if he decided to stay on the island. He didn’t like the way the boat rocked back and forth, nor Tyler telling him to sit without leaning one way or the other. They needed it to be leveled out. 

“Why couldn’t we make individual boats?” Evan asked when Tyler pushed the boat away from the island. 

“Do you know how to row a boat?” Brian asked, gripping one of the oars while Tyler held the other one. 

“No.”

“Then that’s your answer to your dumbass question,” said Tyler. 

Evan sat quietly, watching the water turn into a warm blue to a more darker color that looked at the same time, clear and foggy. The cold air grew and passed through his clothes, and he let out a shiver once they reached the other side. 

Tyler gripped Evan’s hand and pulled him out of the boat when he complained it was too cold, and his legs were shaking. “Move around and you’ll be fine.”

“You have frost in your hair.”

“I’m a blonde, you idiot.”

Brian gripped the edge of the boat and pulled it onto the snow, making sure it wouldn’t float away from them as they explored.

“You guys couldn’t find a desert or something?” Evan asked, following behind them, wrapping his arms around himself. 

“Shut up, Evan,” they both said in unison. 

After an hour of the white expanse of nothing, they climbed onto a mountain that wasn’t technically a mountain, but it was a good enough place to start for Evan to roll up a few balls of snow and throw them at Tyler.

“You fucker!”

Evan laughed, throwing more snowballs at Tyler. He moved his target to Brian when Tyler hit him in the shoulder, and after he grew bored of snow, and his hands and fingers were numb. 

Evan and Brian heard a horrifying scream and went running toward where it was coming from.

“Ah, shit,” Evan said, almost slipping on the ice while Brian sprinted ahead of him. He righted himself and tried his best to race after Brian while Tyler was getting attacked by a bear with white fur.

“What happened?” Evan asked, holding a snow ball, currently his only weapon. 

“It tried to attack me,” Tyler said, sliding toward Brian. He had a large gash in his arm, but it wasn’t bleeding, and he had a notable vial in his hand, small and glowing magenta amongst the white and blue that surrounded them.

“Get the fuck out of here,” Evan said, tossing the snowball at the snowbear. 

“Evan, quit provoking it, for fuck sakes,” Brian said, pulling Tyler toward Evan who was looking for more snow. 

They moved away from the snowbears, and wandered past a few tall hills and mountains until the sun itself was dipping below the surface of the cold water. Evan was climbing one of the mountains, his fingers were red, and they looked close to bleeding, or the reddish color is blood. He wasn’t really sure. 

“What are we doing?” Evan asked, standing on the top of the hill and staring at the setting sun and its fading orange and red colors, the ice wind prickled his skin, making him tense. “What’s the point of this?” he turned to look at Tyler.

“I don’t know,” Tyler whined, “I wanted to see the ice, but I have a bunch of it, and I might make an igloo when we head back.”

Evan shivered, the temperature was dropping quick. He walked along a thick ice to another part of the mountain. He slowly pulled out a stick from inside his pocket that he could light with the flint. He was amazed that it hadn’t broken yet, and they might need to fix the way they hold their sticks, but as he stuck it into the snow, and lit the torch, he heard screaming again, and it felt like the theme of their adventure.

“Holy shit!”

Before Evan could turn back to look at his friend and see what the hell he was screaming about, something came into his peripheral vision, and he was thrown off the hill. He screamed as he fell, but it was soon cut off when he slammed into the snow, and rolled hard along the thick edges, fingers trying to grasp hold to stop him from sliding into the water.

“Help,” he whimpered from the bottom.

He could barely hear their voices, but Tyler’s was louder than Brian’s. “It knocked Evan off.” 

Once they made it to the bottom, Brian helped Evan sit up, while Tyler lit a torch before them so Evan could warm his fingers. “What the fuck was that?”

“Vulture,” Brian said, frowning at Evan’s hands. “I found a wooden post and it was in Frey.” 

_ Frey _ . Right, the ancient language he didn’t know how to read, besides Brian, Tyler, and everyone else in the village excluding Evan who barely paid attention to new discoveries until now.

“It said to be careful of wild creatures.”

“Would’ve been helpful when we arrived,” Tyler muttered, taking out a vial from inside of his coat, and passing it to Evan. 

Brian looked up at the mountain Evan was thrown off of. “They also call these the Cold Peaks and to be careful of the vultures. They’re territorial.”

Once Evan finished off the potion, and there was no sign of pain from tumbling down the peak. Brian and Tyler helped him to his feet, and they walked through the narrow pathways until they returned to the wasteland of ice.

Night has already descended, and Evan wants the surprises to stop until Brian gasps loudly which echoes around them. 

“There’s an underwater temple below us.”

“A what?” Evan asked, looking down at the ice, but he only sees darkness. 

Brian is already on his hands and knees, trying to break the ice. “I see it.”

“We should make a campsite and wait until daylight,” Tyler said, taking the stick in Evan’s hand and they made a small makeshift fire that barely helps them stay warm. 

“This is kind of sad,” Evan says, bringing up his legs and staring at Tyler and Brian, silently blaming them for everything that’s happened. 

“We’ll be fine,” Tyler tells him, which is hard to believe until he pulls out four more vials from his coat. Brian also has three in his, while Evan asks if he can have one, but they both say no. 

“You’ll probably throw it on the ground,” Tyler says.

“I won’t do that,” Evan tells him. “Not when it can save my life.”

They aren’t convinced, and Evan tries to fall asleep in his coat when he hears a slight crackling sound and almost thinks they’re sinking, but finds Brian and Tyler are no longer in front of him. The sun is peeking along the top of the mountains, and it’s a lot brighter in this area than it has anywhere in the past. 

“Where did you guys go?” he asked, until his question is answered when he spots broken ice not too far from where he is. “Oh, shit, did you guys go to that underwater temple?” He’s a little afraid to get close, but he crawls to the edge and looks into the water. The sun makes it easier to spot Tyler swimming towards him, and gasping for air when his head breaks the surface. He isn’t wearing his coat, and he’s shivering all over.

“We’re not prepared for this,” Evan says, pulling Tyler onto the ice.

“I know,” Tyler said, holding something in his hand. “I found a map.”

“To what?” Evan asked, picking up Tyler’s coat, but frowns when he waves it away from him. 

“To buried treasure,” Tyler says, giving Evan an incredulous look. The paper itself seemed to be a bit worn thanks to the water, but there was still a bit of writing and drawings that were easily legible. They could follow this, and Evan was glad that it was far away from this cold place. Now they’ll have to wait for Brian.

“Put this with my stuff,” Tyler said, throwing the map at Evan who almost dropped it, but was also shocked that Tyler slipped back into the ice cold water. 

“What kind of insane idiots am I adventuring with?” he asked, placing the map down with Tyler’s coat, and took a deep breath, he knew they had potions to heal them from injuries, but it didn’t heal how cold they were. 

He knew he was going to regret this, but he dove into the water and instantly regretted it. He spotted Tyler swimming toward a strange structure that was a lot more emphasized now that Evan was below the ice. It was in a deep turquoise with weird blocks forming around it with circular designs. He wanted to ask who created this place while Tyler pushed himself inside the temple, and Evan was forced to go back to the surface. 

He grasps for the ice, fingers digging into it while pulling himself up. He crawls to the map and sits with it, shivering, and trying to figure out how to read it. There’s a lot more of that  _ Frey _ language inscribed on the sides, and Evan desperately wants to know what it says. 

Tyler and Brian resurface and they’re absolutely shivering so badly that it makes Tyler’s more angry, and Brian not so much besides struggling to start a fire. 

“You idiot, you could’ve died,” Tyler says, glaring at Brian and confusing Evan. 

“What happened?” Evan asked. 

“Almost drowned,” Brian answers hoarsely, as if there’s something blocking his throat.

“We should go,” Tyler mutters, getting to his feet while Evan holds the map, and Brian nods. The walk back isn’t ideal, they’re cold, shivering, probably getting sick. When they reach the boat, Brian is way too cold to row, so Tyler teaches Evan impatiently how to do it. 

“Are we going b-back to the...island?” 

“Where else are we going?” Tyler asked, glaring at him. “Don’t ask dumb questions, Evan.”

“I thought we’re going to find the-the-the b-buried treasure.” It’s way too hard to speak while trying to row the boat, shivering uncontrollably, and not trying to think that Brian might be dying. He’s lying on the floor of the boat, slowly drinking some of the potion, and looking a bit pale and blue.

“We are, just fucking row!”

By the time they reach the island, Brian lies down on the grass, moaning softly in contentment. Tyler is holding the map and Evan is pulling the boat onto the sand. It’s a lot warmer in this place than where they previously were. He can still feel the numbing ache from falling off the mountain, and his fingers are red, but healed thanks to the vials he drank. 

“Let’s go find that buried treasure,” Tyler says, helping Brian to his feet.

Evan frowns at the idea. “Are you serious? We almost died out there,” he points toward the Cold Peaks, “and you want us to look for buried treasure! We should be going home, warming up, looking for food!”

“We could’ve died any other time,” Tyler tells Evan, glaring at him. “Here or there, but since we’re explorers, and scavengers, we do what we must to survive. And right now, you little shit, we’re not dead. So let’s go look for buried treasure!”

Evan scowls and follows after Tyler. Brian seems a bit more peppier now that he drank two entire vials from their supply. He is a little happy they returned to a place that was familiar to him, and he didn’t need to complain about the cold. He took off his coat, and held onto it while basking in the warmth the island was surrounded in. 

They came upon a path which Tyler ended up singing along as they followed it. The singing seemed to scare off several animals from the forest, but at least they weren’t bothered entirely by any creatures. 

Tyler slowed down in front of a sign sitting near a group of trees. It was a little hard to see, but Evan stood beside Tyler and Brian, they looked at it with confirmation to what it said and peered out to the wide field.

“What did that say?” Evan asked, following after them. There was a warm breeze lightly touching his face, and drying his dark hair. The post was once more written in that strange  _ Frey _ language, and Evan was becoming a bit more bitter that it looked more like scribbles than anything else, and that he couldn’t read it.

“The Wandering Field,” Brian said, glancing back at Evan with a smile on his face, “it said, if you go into the Wandering, you’ll become a Wanderer.”

“What does that mean?” Evan asked, wondering if it was something cryptic.

“It means,” Tyler said from up ahead, “if you wander off, I ain’t going to save your ass!”

Evan looked past Tyler and spotted something strange in the grass. “What is that?” he asked, pointing at the strange creature with grey fur and floppy ears. He was both confused and interested in what it was, and figured maybe he should’ve left the village more often when he had the chance.

“It’s a horse,” Tyler and Brian said at the same time.

“Actually,” Brian jogged toward it, “I think it’s a donkey.”

“An ass?” Tyler chuckled, walking past the animal that didn’t seem bothered by their presence, and more interested in the grass it was eating. 

They walk and walk for several hours, and Evan is once more wondering if this is even worth it. The sun was setting, and his friends aren’t relenting to his complaining. They do come upon a beach and Evan is once more perplexed by the aged sign that was crackling on the sides, wood splintering, but the writing wasn’t as faded away as most. 

“The Silent Shore,” Brian translated, walking past Evan and onto the cool sand.

Evan wants to ask where he sees the words but he decides to follow them, and mostly finds shoveling sand into Brian’s makeshift hole interesting until Tyler yanks his arm and drags him away. 

“You’re killing him!” Tyler says, panicking, his grip is tight on Evan’s arm, “You’ll kill him!”

Brian groans, pushing the sand, but he’s shoulder deep inside, and water is already filling one side of the hole. “Why?!”

“It was just a prank,” Evan said, laughing to himself as he steps away from Brian who managed to crawl out of the wet sand and onto dry land. His clothes are once again soaked, and the sand is sticking to him.

“You’re fucking going to kill me!” said Brian, wiping the sand from his face, and glaring at Evan.

“No, I stopped, I stopped,” Evan said, walking over to Brian, but went still when Brian eased away from him. 

Tyler scoffed and folding his arms over his chest. “Evan’s a bad person.”

“Maybe that’s why the others kicked you out of the village,” Brian said, a hint of annoyance in his words.

Evan’s brows arched. “Whoa! Okay, no need for the truth bombs, we’re looking for treasure, not my lack of self-confidence.”

“You mean lack of survival instincts?” Tyler asked, dryly.

Evan shrugged, “I guess so.”

Brian let out a sigh, “Don’t fucking kill me this time, you asshole!” He went back to digging into the sand while Tyler showed him the map where it was. Soon, Brian was surrounded by water again, taking a deep breath, shooting a warning glare at Evan who was standing away from the sand, and he dove into the water. 

“Do you think he’ll find it or should we kill him properly this time?” Evan asked Tyler who stood beside him. 

Tyler scowled. “You know, I might agree with Brian about why they kicked you out.”

“You guys know why.”

“You try to kill us so many times, I’m surprised you haven’t succeeded yet.”

“Why would I want to kill any of you, you’re my friends,” Evan said, trying to sound innocent. 

Brian’s head popped back above the surface and he looked toward his friends. “Hey, I found it, it’s here, below the water. Come help me pull it up.”

Tyler shoved the map into Evan’s hand. “Stay here, psycho, we’ll bring it up.”

Evan smiled while he watched Tyler and Brian dive below the surface again. He decided to study the map, and try to figure out the language. He recognized a few from the wooden posts they walked by, trying to figure out a rhythm of what they said, and how they’re written until he’s interrupted by his friend’s dragging a wooden box towards him. 

“You found it!”

“That’s what I said,” Brian said, sounding bitter as he sat down beside Tyler. 

“Are you going to open it?”

“Let us catch our breathes, you asshole,” said Tyler, panting softly. “This thing is heavy.”

“Might be just the box,” Brian mused, wiping water from his face and bits of sand. 

“Or the contents,” said Evan, sitting between them. 

“Maybe the box,” Tyler said. 

“Can you guys just open it, for fuck sakes.” 

Tyler reached over to the box and they broke the lock with a rock. It rusted over time and became easy for them to smash it. He pushed the lid open and they looked inside. 

Brian was the first to reach his hand to one of the objects, a round turquoise like object, but when he touched it, the ball itself disappeared. 

“What the…?”

“Where is it?” Tyler asked.

Evan reached for blue looking eggs and stared at their glittering colors in the sunlight. They were beautiful. 

“Gold, emerald...bombs for some reason,” Tyler said. 

“I don’t know where it is,” Brian said, frowning at Tyler. “One moment it was there, the next...I don’t know...it’s gone.”

“Strange,” Tyler said softly, glancing at Evan. “Don’t lose those, you idiot, maybe we can buy our way back in the village.”

“With these blue eggs?” Evan asked, mystified by the idea. 

Brian sighed, holding a few gold pieces, “Those are diamonds. Incredibly rare. If we can gather a bunch, maybe we’ll be able to offer them to the rest of the idiots in the village.” He was already heading in the direction of their makeshift home.

“If they haven’t already messed up and set everything on fire,” Tyler said. 

Evan followed after them, holding the blue eggs, and thinking that maybe in some way, this was okay. Maybe tomorrow, they’ll get eaten or something, but at least they found their treasure. 


	3. Abysmal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trio head for another cave to barter their way back into the village.

About two weeks since they went treasure hunting. Tyler was teaching Evan how to properly hunt, and Brian taught him how to create things from the ore they were getting from within caves. It took time for him to truly get it, but the one thing he wanted to do was figure out the Frey language. He learned a few of the alphabets in the language. They weren’t the normal alphabets, some of them were simple lines with dots on the sides, and it depends on where they’re placed. He was getting the hang of it until the lines began to curve. He lost himself with a few of the words when he showed Tyler and Brian his progress.

“This is how you do it,” Tyler said one evening when Evan lit a few torches to give him light outside of their temporary home. Tyler took the stick Evan was using to draw in the dirt and Evan watched Tyler draw out a few words and standing to the side. “What does it say?”

Evan’s brows creased as he stared at the words. “Sea.”

“Yes,” Tyler said, then he started drawing again. “What about this one.”

“Wind.”

“Good, at least you’re learning.”

“Those are two words!”

“I know,” Tyler tossed the stick back at Evan, “maybe we’ll do two more words tomorrow.”

Evan slumped his shoulders and dropped the stick. He wandered back into the cave with Tyler and found Brian packing a bag and fixing his armor.

“Are we leaving again?” Evan asked, leaning against the wall.

“Yes,” Brian answered. “There’s another cave that I spotted a few days ago.”

“Does it have a name.”

“Abysmal,” Tyler answered.

“What kind of name is that?”

Brian tossed a bag to Evan who caught it. “The name of the cave. Look, once we find a cave that doesn’t have a name, you can name it whatever stupid thing you can come up with, alright?”

“Okay,” Evan said, reaching for his sword.

They left their home and walked through the Plain Wood and followed a vague trail toward a mountain. There was a crisp wind as the sun began to set and deepening the shadows around them. Evan asked them about the Frey language some more, and Brian answered a few of the questions before they grew silent. They weren’t meant to speak too much in case any more monsters showed up in the gloom.

Tyler walked behind Evan, and Brian walked ahead of them. They had to be careful and aware as they headed for the Abysmal.

“What are we going to do exactly?” Evan whispered.

“Search for more diamonds,” Brian told him, “so we can buy our way back into the village.”

“Why? I thought you guys liked this?”

“Who the fuck told you that?” Tyler asked.

Evan shrugged, giving them an innocent smile. “You guys are having fun, aren’t you?”

“Living in a makeshift home with you two, fuck no,” Tyler said. “I made my own house back in the village, and if those fuckers burned it down, then we’re all going to start over.”

Evan gritted his teeth and muttered, “Great. What about my house?”

“You share a house with Scotty.”

“Okay, first of all, he stole my idea.”

“He created the tree house before you,” Brian said, glancing over his shoulder. 

“It was still my idea!” Their tree houses were actually several paces away from one another, and it led to one of their main homes before the rest separated to create their own houses. He had Marcel help him build his house, and later added his own finishing touches on it. “I hope they didn’t burn my house…”

An hour later, they finally reached the Abysmal. Evan climbed up the rocky incline and pulled himself over a ledge. Brian created a torch while Tyler crawled inside alongside them.

Evan placed his sword back in its sheath and pulled out the pickaxe. “We have equipment to make more, right?” he asked.

“There’s more in this place than there is outside,” Tyler said, nudging Evan to move forward. They followed after Brian who was leaving markers on the sides of the rock as they ventured deeper inside. 

“There’s monsters in here as well,” Brian said, knelt down on the edge of a cliff. The distance to the ground was pretty wide, and Evan had to shake away the slight vertigo.

“How do you know?”

“I can hear them,” Brian whispered, then he pointed toward another ledge far from where they were, and Evan spotted the shadows. “Try not to get caught by any of them.” 

Evan swallowed thickly and carefully propelled down with the rope Tyler had made a week ago. They both each had one, and it dangled a few feet from the ground, and Evan almost toppled backwards when he reached the ground. Tyler and Brian were already hitting the rock, tearing it from the walls as the echo bounced off the walls around them. 

It was terrifying that they were doing this while creatures wandered close by. He just hoped they wouldn’t end up surrounded like the last time they entered a cave.

Evan found a spot where he could mine for diamonds, it was far away from Tyler and Brian, but with enough light from Brian’s torch, he could see where what he was doing more properly. 

They mined for half an hour before Brian started jumping. Evan stared from where he was standing and noticed the glinting blue color from within the rock. He was ecstatic that he had found diamonds already. 

“Count them,” Tyler called from where he was standing. A small waterfall was right beside him while he kicked stones into the pool of water.

Brian hit the rock several times until he began to mine the diamond out. It glinted beautifully where Evan stood, and he was gripping the pickaxe too tightly. 

“I should stop thinking violent thoughts,” Evan said, turning back toward the rock as he continued hitting it, tearing rock after rock until he glanced back to Brian who was knelt down with each diamond placed in a row, and counting them.

“Five,” he said, voice carrying with the echo.

“Great job, we just need to find some more and hopefully it can be enough for those idiots,” Tyler said.

They all went back to mining until Evan pulled one rock away, it was bigger than normally and it almost fell on his foot, until he blinked at the dim blue color of the rock in front of him. His mouth fell open while his heart raced.

“Holy fuck, I joined the diamond club!” he said, almost yelling as he waved at his friends.

“Shit, I have to find diamonds,” Tyler said, hitting the stone while Evan cut the diamonds out of the wall and counted each of them. “Four.”

“We have nine with us, and three back at the house,” Brian said. “We need about maybe five more, six might be better.”

“Let’s continue this shit and go home.” It felt a little strange that they were whispering instead of yelling at one another. He can still hear the creatures on the ledge, and they were trying their best not to get caught by them. 

Evan picked the diamonds up and carried them over to Brian. He set them beside Brian who was now mining in a different location.

“You better not steal those fucking diamonds,” Tyler said, sneering at Evan.

Evan smiled, “Oh, come on, you know me better than that.”

“I do know you, and your greedy hands will grab anything that doesn’t belong to you!” 

“Ah, fuck!” Brian called, louder than they expected, and when they turned, Evan’s eyes widened at the sight of a creature appearing from the hole Brian had created. At first he didn’t fully recognize it until he realized what it was. 

“Foamer!” Evan screeched, reaching down for the diamonds and trying his hardest to stuff them into his pockets.

Brian was sprinting towards them as another creature came out, smaller ones, and Evan’s heart was thudding against his chest, while his mind told him to run. Tyler had also reached down for a few diamonds, then Brian grabbed the last two. 

Their screams alerted the other creatures on the top ledge, and they were swarming out like insects. Evan jumped from one of the rocks and grasped hold of the rope. It burned his hands, but he began to climb, Tyler on his rope, while Brian was the last who almost slipped, but was right behind them as more of the monsters clung to the rope.

“Cut it!” Tyler yelled from the top, while Evan pulled out a small knife from his sheath on his side, and he cut the rope before swiftly turning, and took Brian’s outstretched hand, and pulled him onto the ledge. Brian turned around, the diamond almost falling out of his hand before he grasped it, while at the same time, cutting the rope. 

“Let’s go!” Evan said, yanking Brian to the mouth of the cave.

“Shit, shit, shit! What the fuck are you doing?” Brian called to Tyler.

“Look, you assholes!” Tyler pointed, and Evan’s heart was racing, breath burning his chest, but his eyes landed, not on the darkness or top of the trees, but thick smoke in the distance, including the orange glow of fire.

“You know when you said they were going to burn our houses down,” Brian said to Tyler, pushing against his shoulder to get him over the ledge. Evan crawled down after them.

“Fuck that, I didn’t think they’d actually do it!” Tyler yelled, scaring off animals as they sprinted through the dark forest.

“We got the diamonds, we can barter!” Brian said.

“They’re the ones on fire!” Evan yelled, exhilaration pumping in his veins as he held the diamonds, his sword which he had switched with his pick axe on the way out sat in its sheath, and now they were heading home, to where the fire was coming from, and the smoke that thickened in the air.


	4. Flame & Shadow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evan & his friends return to their burning village, and try to locate the others who resided within the now destroyed homes.

Evan sprinted after Brian and Tyler as they weaved past the trees, jumping over shrubs, and barely tripping over upturned roots. Evan, on the other hand, was having a difficult time trying to keep up. He managed, and only seem triumphant when the smoke wafted upon the ground like an eerie fog, except it was more thick and acrid.

What did they do? What happened? It couldn’t have been a mistake. He knew in someway that it couldn’t have. They were all more adept at living in the wilds like this. There were so many, and he knew they worked well in groups besides himself. These thoughts once again brought up the same old questions. What happened and why?

The smoke became so thick that he covered his mouth with his hand to keep it from entering his mouth. His eyes, however, were burning from the intensity as the heat grew, and the flames became more exposed as trees and the tall grass were engulfed completely.

“Evan!” Brian called, waving his hand.

Evan bolted after him, jumping over flames to get to one side where Tyler managed to find a way within the village.

“The houses are on fire!” Tyler said, then he was sprinting into the smoke, with Brian and Evan following close behind.

It was incredibly unbearable, yet fascinating to be this close to fire burning up the tall dark trees, alighting the night with chaos. Even if it were destroying their homes, Evan couldn’t ignore the brilliance of this moment while he raced after his friends, making sure he kept in step with them, and not wanting any of the fire to touch him.

“Marcel!” Tyler’s voice barely echoed as a tree fell to the side several paces behind them. Tyler ignored what happened and ran across the open plain toward Marcel limping alongside Scotty and Anthony. The three of them were scuffed, their clothes ripped, places on their bodies were burned with wet blood reflected in the light.

“Why are you here?” Scotty asked, his eyes wide.

Evan heard the fear trembling in his voice and glanced around. Each of their houses were destroyed, but there was also a curious thing about the way the earth had been upturned, leaving chunks all over the place in an array of dirt and clumps of grass. It was a strange sight.

“We saw the fire,” Tyler answered incredulously. “What the fuck happened? What did you do?”

“It wasn’t our fault!” Marcel said, brows pinched as he glared at Tyler. 

“Then who’s fault is it?” asked Brian, glancing around the area like Evan had been doing. He seemed worried for the ones that haven’t appeared, and the question hung between them.

“It was an Infernal,” Anthony told them, panting heavily. He was nursing a wound on his arm, a large gash that was still bleeding and matting the cloth he placed around the wound.

Evan wished he paid more attention to what his friends said over the years. They had traveled here from distant lands, and they all thought it was a great place to make a ‘home.’ Evan followed them, knowing for sure he wouldn’t be able to survive without them, even if he were in a way resourceful.

The homes around him were burning, all of it turning to ash. There may be some exhilaration as the flames grew higher, and attacked everything that it could, eating away bark, grass, minerals in the dirt, and the oxygen in the air. Including the small memories Evan had within the village that was now beginning to look unrecognizable. 

There was a sharp pain in his chest at the thought, pumping wildly alongside the thrill coursing in his veins.

“You got to be fucking kidding me!” Tyler said, which brought Evan back to their conversation as the warm wind brushed against all of them, including the flickers of ember and ash that blew by. “You summoned it, you fuckers summoned it.” He was shaking his head, fingers raking through his blonde hair.

“We didn’t summon it,” Marcel said, matching Tyler’s rage.

Evan knew out of the group, there weren’t many of them that can do that. Not even Evan who laughed off most of their anger that simmered between them.

“You had too, because the only way an Infernal to show up is to summon the fucking thing!” Brian went off, glaring at Marcel, Scotty, and Anthony. And like Tyler, Brian was the other candidate who could match each other rage.

“We didn’t do it,” Anthony said. He was less angry, more subdued, and watching the fires behind them with a solemn expression of both worry and amazement. 

“Someone had too,” Tyler said. “Where the fuck are the others?”

“Ran off,” Marcel told them, waving his hands in every other direction. “I don’t know, when it showed up, everyone fucking tried to fight it off, but it started to destroy everything in the vicinity, then they all scattered when they realized we’re fucked.”

“Where is it?” Evan asked, rubbing his arms. “Where’s the...Infernal?”

Scotty shrugged. “How the fuck should we know? We were trying to save our houses, but now that everything is burning, we can’t even do that.”

Tyler grumbled out a few curses before gesturing for everyone to follow him away from the flames. The fire was getting too close for comfort as they wandered toward the pathway that led between Anthony and Tyler’s houses. Tyler didn’t even have the audacity to look at his burning house while Anthony silently mourned his own.

Evan stood on the pathway, staring at his treehouse. He hadn’t been able to properly build it the way that he wanted, and it was a lot smaller than Scotty’s. He had an entire vision of what he wanted it to be, but that too was on fire. The trunk of the tree had gave away and the house sitting in the branches was now a clump of burning wood and ash on the ground.

“Evan,” Brian called.

He tore his gaze away from his home and followed his friends. He let Brian wrap an arm around his shoulders as they walked through the trees, along the embankment, and into the forest that hadn’t caught on fire yet.

At one point they had to stop so they could bandage Anthony’s wound properly, and to wash it out when they came to a stream. It was dark, and Evan and Brian watched the edges of their group to make sure they weren’t ambushed. They were also the only other people in their small group to have swords. Marcel, Scotty, and Anthony weren’t able to get to their own since the fire was way too much for them. 

Now that they were far from their burning village, the coldness of the forest seeped into Evan’s clothes, making him shudder.

“Do you think we’ll be able to find the others?” he asked Brian.

“Maybe,” Brian said with a sigh, which didn’t sound convincing. “I have no idea where they would’ve gone...or what could happen to them if they don’t have any weapons. It’s dangerous in the woods...more so without a weapon...and without each other to keep one another alive.” He met Evan’s eyes. “We have to find them before something happens, before we…” 

_Find their bodies._

Evan shuddered at the thought. That was the last thing he wanted was to find his friend’s bodies. It was bad enough that the village was gone, and the ones who were left behind have no idea where the others had even gone too. He almost wanted to ask, a few times he tried, but the words failed him each time.

_Are you okay?_

Evan stared at the water for a bit before he was called by Brian as they headed out along a narrow pathway. Tyler created it when they first had come through the trees and found the area, then built their homes. It was a good idea at the time to have their own homes, to leave behind the pasts and live in harmony. 

They needed to know their own ticks here and there. Most of it meant knowing how to track, which Evan somewhat understood in his own distracting way. He didn’t want to confess that he still needed time to figure things out.

Tyler managed to make a makeshift bandage for both Marcel and Scotty after he fixed up Anthony. The three of them looked tired, covered in ash with their burned clothes. They didn’t complain all that much as they wandered through the trees, Tyler ahead of them, and none of them bringing up any type of conversation to ease the silence.

Evan held his sword and walked behind Marcel and Scotty, while Brian was a few feet behind him, making sure no one sneaked up on them. Anthony was ahead of Marcel and Scotty, and was followed close to Tyler.

“Where are we going?” Evan asked Brian in a hushed voice.

“We have another secret place in case something like this happened,” Brian told him.

Evan arched a brow. “Really?”

“Well, you and Marcel spoke about it when we first came around here,” Brian said, shrugging his shoulders. “We just expanded on the idea.”

Evan rolled his eyes. “Of course you did, but from the looks of the fires, our secret spot is probably burned up anyways. Not like we did much with it until we….I was kicked out.” Now he was getting the feeling that he should simply just take the burden that most of what happened in the village was his fault, not the fire and summoning the Infernal, but being useless without his friends. The responsibility was given to each of them, and Evan simply didn’t carry his when he needed too. Now he understood it since he was the only other person that held a weapon while they walked with three of their injured friends.

If danger appeared, he’ll have to fight it off while protecting Marcel, Scotty, and Anthony. The idea of protecting them filled him up, and made him resolute.

“Is it far away?” he asked.

“We should be there in an hour.”

Evan scowled, “Why so far?”

“We didn’t want anyone else knowing about it unless there was an emergency.”

“So, you and Tyler?”

Brian rolled his eyes, “David, Lui, and Brock know about it. If any of them are with the others who ran off like idiots into the trees, they all might be there.” 

“And if they’re not?” 

“Then I guess we don’t have to exile you again.”

Evan arched his brows. “Are you serious? You better not be, Brian.”

Brian chuckled. “Don’t worry, we need the extra hands, at least the ones that can hold a weapon while the injured are cared for.”

That made sense. The explanation gave him a good reason to keep him aware as they trudged along the forest floor, past the trees, bushes, ponds, and hills. The stars were bright and beautiful whenever the long branches covered in leaves didn’t block it out. They stopped a few times so Marcel, Scotty, and Anthony can take a breather, and so Tyler can change their bandages. 

Brian went into the forest to look for something to eat. Berries or mushrooms, but nothing too difficult since they couldn’t stay in one place for too long.

Tyler was much more aware of their surroundings, less paranoid than both Brian and Evan, and more in control of the situation whenever Marcel or Scotty complained about their wounds, or how cold it was.

“Quit bitching,” he hissed to Marcel once they all got up so they can continue their trek.

Marcel glowered at him. “If you were like this—”

“If I was like this, I wouldn’t be bitching,” Tyler said, trudging onward as they all hurried to catch up to him.

“As if, I’d think he’d bitch longer than we have,” Scotty said as he brushed his shoulders with Marcel.

Marcel nodded, agreeing with his sentiment.

Evan shuddered from the cold, biting his lip from complaining. He even heard Brian mutter a curse while biting into a few berries, then passing some to Evan who gave some to Marcel, Scotty, then to Anthony. They were all quietly munching on the fruit as they walked through another set of trees that thickened the shadows along the bushes that held thorns.

“Fucking stupid…” Brian growled, and shot a glare at Marcel and Scotty who laughed at his turmoil.

“You okay?” Evan asked, smiling at him and not bothering to help pull the thorns from his skin. 

Brian waved absentmindedly. “I’m fine.”

They waited until he was okay to walk, and they continued their way through the trees. Somehow, Tyler knew the way toward their secret hideout without bothering to stop and look for the tracks. He told Evan that he didn’t have to since he was the one who had to secure it a few times, and to give the others clues on how to locate it.

Evan nodded before he was told to go back to where he was before and stop bothering Tyler. He fell back while he watched Anthony start talking to Tyler, and both Marcel and Scotty seemed interested in whatever conversation they were in. Brian was more preoccupied with watching the shadows than talking to Evan.

Evan held onto the handle of his weapon, the sword he crafted with Tyler. He swung it a few times, then let out a sigh. He was a little afraid that his friends were in danger. He knew they could handle themselves more than he could on his own, but he couldn’t ignore the worry that sunk into him like a hook.

Then Tyler stopped abruptly, a ripple amongst the front to the back end, as they all went quiet. His hand was up, then his sword was gripped. He told the others to stay back, and waved to Brian to go with him. 

“You got to be kidding me…” Evan muttered, then he told Anthony, Marcel, and Scotty to hide behind a tree where the shadows kept them from view of any creatures that were up ahead.

“You think it’s a false alarm?” Scotty asked.

“Why would it be?” Anthony whispered.

Marcel shrugged, touching his wound on his shoulder and wincing. “I didn’t hear anything, and Tyler has a way of overreacting.”

“He knows how to keep people alive,” Evan commented while watching the pathway where Tyler and Brian had gone off too.

“Hey, yeah...why are you still alive?” Marcel asked, looking at Evan peculiarly. “I figured Tyler and Brian would’ve at least drowned you somewhere, or burned you in prayer to some false deity.”

Evan chuckled. “I tried doing the former to Brian, but the other one is a bit skeptical...are their deities?” 

“You tried killing Brian?” Scotty asked, brow arched. “This is why we kicked you out.”

“I didn’t try killing anyone else before.”

“Tried. It was on purpose, first Tyler’s house, then Nogla’s, and let me tell you, I’m surprised Brian hasn’t killed you for the glass you constantly broke,” Marcel said.

“I’m pretty sure you broke one of his glass panels too.”

Marcel scoffed. “It was by accident, and you did it on purpose just to drive him insane.”

“Well, they forgave me for the shit I did, and because of that, I’m still alive.” He feels somewhat cheap about that, but right now, he hardly cared.

Anthony sucked in a breath and grabbed Evan’s arm. “I see one in the trees over there...it’s staring at us.”

Evan hated the way he whispered as he slowly turned his head to where Anthony mentioned, and found himself staring right back at some weird creature in the trees. The dark hid its shape, but the silver reflected eyes is what gave it away.

“What the fuck is that?” Evan said, taking a slow step in front of Marcel and Scotty, his sweaty hand gripping his sword.

“I can’t believe you don’t know,” Marcel whispered.

“Once you tell me, I will…”

“Uh…Azrith,” Scotty answered.

“What kind of name is that?” 

“Does it matter?” Anthony asked, sounding more impatient and frightened by the second. “It’s going to kill us, and it’s not asking our fucking names or what species we are.”

Evan nodded, slowly taking another step forward. He was regretting his decision of owning a sword, and for staying alive this long.

“What is it exactly?”

“I think...shadow…” Marcel answered.

That did not help in knowing what the fuck it is. The creature moved and Evan had lost it for a split second until Scotty yelled. He twisted around and cut through the strange mist that came close to his injured friends. 

“It smells your blood,” Evan said, keeping close to his friends as he looked for the creature. 

“Wonderful,” Marcel muttered while Evan cut through the mist again as it moved around in the air.

How was he going to fight this thing? He wasn’t going to, at least not like this. If it was made of shadow, then they were practically dead. He had never fought anything like this, and he was still wishing he listened to his friends more often when they explained things. Now he was out of his depths, trying to protect the ones who meant a lot to him.

The Azrith drew close, and Evan cut into it again, but there was no residual besides a strange cold smell that escaped it as it moved past him.

“I can’t fight it,” he told them, backing up. “We have to find the others, maybe Tyler or Brian knows what to do.” The fear tumbled out alongside his own words as he reached for Scotty and pulled him to his feet, next was Marcel while Anthony was leading them along the trees that kept them separated from the creature.

Evan wiped away cold sweat from his face as he struck the Azrith a few more times, trying to get it away from his friends.

When it flew into the air and moved back towards him, it let out a terrible screech that had their ears ringing, pushing them to their knees. It was a heavy reverberating sound that sent shocks of pain coursing through them.

Evan gripped the sword while he breathed heavily, then he caught sight of a bright light coming from his left, it was bluish in shade as someone leaped from the darkness of a tree, and struck the Azrith that had crawled its way upon Scotty, and whatever teeth it had was sunk into his skin, then torn away by the light of a bright blue blade.

Evan gasped, reaching for his sword, but finding the comforting presence standing before him, holding out his sword as the Azrith flew into the air.

“Come on, get up, Vanoss,” Jonathan said as he twisted around and reached for Evan’s hand.

“You’re alive…” he said, taking his hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this took so long to update. I guess I wasn't paying too much attention to it, and the BBS don't play Minecraft anymore, and the motivation to write this story had dimmed. I will continue though, I enjoyed their videos a lot, and I would rather not just give up my ideas! :D
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
> 
> Comments and/or Kudo's are appreciated.


	5. Closely, Death follows.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Evan & his friends figure out what they're going to do now that the stakes have been raised, and they're forced to separate.

“You’re alive,” Evan said to Jonathan once he was helped up from the ground. Hand tingling, the cold air around them warmed.

“Of course,” Jonathan said, giving Evan an odd look. He was holding one of their more sacred swords that had been created by diamonds and something else that they wouldn’t tell him when he asked about it. It seemed to have properly scared off the Azrith.

Then without any other warrant, Jonathan wrapped his arms around him and sighed a relief in the crook of his neck. “I’m happy you’re alive.”

Evan’s heart raced as he returned the embrace, fingers barely touching the nape of his neck, to the ends of his brown strands of hair. “Where did you go? What’s going on?” he asked him, and they they pulled away reluctantly as the others stood up from the ground.

“The Azrith were hanging around,” Jonathan said, gripping the handle of his sword as he looked toward the path he had come from, “so much for the Quiet Wood.”

Evan scoffed at the name. “Do they usually attack like this?”

“No,” Marcel told him. “They don’t, not like this, and they only do it when they’re threatened...I’m thinking the Infernal showing up is what freaked it out.”

“You mean that you summoned it, and it—”

“Summoned it?” Scotty said, glaring at Evan.

“How else did that thing show up?”

The three of them stayed quiet while Evan turned his attention back to Jonathan who was more focused on the pathway.

“It’s way too quiet, I’m going to see if the others are okay.”

Evan grabbed his arm before he could go walking off. “You’re the only one with a decent enough sword, so how about instead of letting us sit here like idiots, and let us come with you.”

Jonathan glanced between Evan and the others, then nodded. “Alright, come along, just stay close.” 

Evan sighed a relief, and followed him, and making sure the others were okay as well. He updated Jonathan of what happened, and he seemed amused by what he said about the Abysmal, about how Evan, Brian, and Tyler were forced to leave their exile to come and help.

“Nice sword,” Jonathan said.

Evan rolled his eyes. “Shut up.”

When they walked along the pathway that had been stamped down a few times from the way the grass was flattened, they were also surrounded by darkness. Maybe the name of the forest made sense. It was eerily quiet.

“How far are we out?” he asked him.

“Not too far,” Jonathan said quietly, glancing back at Marcel, Scotty, and Anthony. His sword continued to glow, a sort of soft song emitted from it. Evan almost wanted to swap their swords just so he could hold it.

The screeches from the Azrith became clear as they drew closer toward the secret hide out. Evan told the injured to slow down and to keep hidden while he and Jonathan check if the others had survived. He hated speaking the sentence, and he didn’t dare look at the expressions on his friends faces. He knew how they felt, and he didn’t want them to see it on his own face.

Evan sprinted after Jonathan as they made their way past the tall trees, rushing through the shadows until they came upon the creatures. At first they seemed more like bats, but the stillness of their gazes was too evident of what they truly were. It sent a shiver down his spine as he gripped the handle of his sword.

“Be careful,” Jonathan told him.

Evan scoffed, “Understatement.”

Tyler and Brian were up ahead, fighting off their own group of Azrith. Some were a lot larger, darker, and more dense. They were able to cut through them with considerable ease without Jonathan’s uniquely glowing sword.

“Don’t die.” Jonathan bounded after the closest Azrith, while Evan defended himself as one appeared to his left.

They were draped in shadow, and only their glowing red and white eyes could be seen. The ones that were more solid had the red eyes, while the ones that kept themselves within their own element had white eyes. As they killed off a few of the Azrith, their numbers dwindled until it was only them left within the Quiet Wood.

Evan panted, wiping sweat from his forehead as he sauntered over to his friends. Marcel was holding Scotty, pushing back wet strands from his forehead.

He had stopped on the path, staring at them. Scotty wasn’t able to stand up as Anthony helped Marcel to keep him from truly falling to the ground. They were both struggling from their own ordeals and seemed desperate as they called his name. Evan was too shocked by what he was witnessing that Tyler and Jonathan brushed past him, and picked Scotty up.

“Come on,” Brian said, appearing beside Evan. “Let’s go before anymore attack us.”

Evan nodded, and followed after them. He didn’t want to tell them that he was exhausted, and simply wanted to sit down. They walked for an additional five minutes before coming toward a wooden hatch that was covered in grass, hiding it from plain view as Brock, who was alive and well, pulled it open and they all carefully climbed down the stairs to a small room.

Brian lit a torch and set it in the center of the room. Tyler made a make-shift bed for Scotty, while Marcel and Anthony were able to properly sit down. Brock had gone over their wounds, pulling apart the old bandages and fixing new ones for them.

Evan plopped down beside Jonathan. He could hardly believe that he was still alive, and unlike most of his friends, Evan didn’t hold a grudge against any of them for what they did to him. Nor did he feel any animosity toward Jonathan. He was just happy most of them were okay.

Tyler had his face in his hands before he let out an exhausted sigh, then he glanced at all of them, and the seriousness of their predicament was still tense in the air. He wondered how they all looked from Tyler’s perspective, or how he felt about what was going on.

“The ones who are missing,” Tyler began, “are Lui, David, Jaren, and John.”

Evan glanced at the others and realized, yeah, those were the ones who were still missing from their group. He still didn’t want to think they were dead or anything. He hoped they were okay.

Brian sat down beside Tyler, looking especially disturbed by what he had seen on Scotty after helping Brock with the three who were injured from the fire. Oh, yeah, the Infernal. Someone had summoned it, and it created this mayhem. Were they ever going to talk about that?

“His wound isn’t healing,” Brian said, adding to the tension.

“What do you mean?” Tyler asked.

“I mean, it’s _not_ healing,” Brian narrowed his eyes at Tyler. “The Azrith are shadow beings, elementals of the Underworld. They don’t normally attack the living without good reason, and apparently because whoever the fuck summoned the Infernal managed to also rile up the Azrith.” He raked his fingers through his hair and let out a frustrated sigh. “They don’t bite people...and when they do, it’s an infection that will spread in a matter of days, and the host will eventually die.”

“What do we do?” Jonathan asked, still holding onto his sword that was now lying on his lap. It wasn’t glowing as brightly, and Evan was getting the feeling that it only did that when there were enemies around.

“We find a cure,” Brian said, shrugging his shoulders, but not looking in the least hopeful. It must be difficult to find a cure for an Azrith bite.

“What can cure it?” Tyler asked him.

“Nothing around here,” Brock said from behind them. “Like what Brian said, an Azrith don’t usually attack people, and a shadow being’s own corruption is extremely difficult to find in the place of the living.”

“Are you telling us we’re going to have to venture into the...underworld?” Evan asked, compelled by the idea.

Brian shot a glare at him. “No. We’re not saying that in the least. It can be cured, but the item itself is limited to us.” He got up and wandered over to a stack of old books that had collected dust and spiderwebs. “I think the last time I read these books, I found the information we need for this specific issue.”

Tyler sighed once again. “While you figure this damn issue out, we still need to deal with the others. Where the fuck Jaren and John had gone off too, and also what happened to Lui and David. These four idiots…” 

“I’m sure Lui and David could survive this,” Jonathan said dryly. “I’m not really sure about Jaren and John though.”

“First, I still want to know who started this,” Evan said, looking toward the two sitting against the wall. Marcel glared at Evan, while Anthony simply looked tired.

“Yes,” Tyler turned around, “I also want to know what the fuck were you idiots doing while the three of us were in exile.”

Marcel rolled his eyes. “Alright, fine, but we thought it would...bring us together.” 

“What do you mean?”

“He means that they summoned it as a _‘team building exercise’_.” Jonathan said in a mocking tone as he smiled at Marcel who still looked annoyed.

“We thought it would work,” Anthony said. “It started destroying our houses...and then it attacked us.” 

“Now look what happened.” Tyler glared at them. “Scotty’s in critical condition, he could die any day. And four of our dumbass friends are missing, possibly burned in that fucking fire out there.”

Evan perked up. “Hey, can I name this forest now that it’s burned down?” Tyler and Brian gave him perplexed expressions, including Jonathan who arched a brow at him. 

Tyler waved his hand flippantly. “Fine, for fuck sakes.”

Evan leaned back against the wall, trying to think of a decent name for the dead forest. Hopefully it’ll rain in a few hours, or in a few days. Maybe then the forest will be saved, but at the moment, he didn’t really want to think about that. He had better things to do like what he’ll be naming it. Every other forest he had come upon had generic names, and maybe it should continue in that way.

“So, we’re possibly the only survivors left of this idiocy,” Tyler said. “I think we should split up to look for the four who are missing, including finding this cure for Scotty before he dies.”

“Would that work?” Anthony asked.

“It’s better than going to one place and another,” said Tyler. “I’m thinking Evan and Jonathan, since they’re the most healthy ones here, and Jonathan has the diamond-and-light fused sword, they can go after the cure.”

Evan glanced at Jonathan, then down at the glowing sword. “That’s what it’s made out of?”

“Very difficult ingredients and a lot of patients,” Jonathan muttered under his breath.

“Brock and Brian will go after Lui and David, whereever the fuck those two are…” Tyler said, raking his fingers through his brown hair and still looking stressed. “I’ll go after Jaren and John.”

“What about us?” Marcel asked. 

“The three of you are too injured, I think you should stay here, and don’t go anywhere.”

“And if someone comes here and—”

“Who the fuck is going to come here?” Brian asked, glancing over his shoulder at Anthony who looked nonchalant as he shrugged.

This was going wonderfully as they discussed this, and mostly as Evan tried to think of a good name for a burned down forest. He wanted to sit for a bit before they leave, but then Jonathan was standing up, asking for potions, and what they were looking for exactly. They can’t just maneuver around without knowing what they’re looking for.

“I’m on that,” Brian said, still holding onto the large tome with yellow pages. Evan spotted that same _Frey_ language in many different variations, and from where he sat, it looked way too difficult for him to decipher.

He still wanted to learn, but maybe he won’t be able to in his lifetime.

“We have to do this quickly,” Tyler said, he was also standing, and stretching his arms. “Scotty might not have enough—”

“I found it!” Brian turned toward them, flipping the page, then his eyes brightened with revelation. “ _Sev flower_ is the cure. We can find a bunch of them, cut them up, and put them into the wound. He can also drink or eat it, but the petals will be able to cure him faster of the corruption once it’s inside the wound.”

“Sev…” Tyler looked apprehensive. “Are you serious, Brian?”

He didn’t look happy either. “It’s...a few days journey.”

“A few?” Tyler scoffed. “It’s more than that, it’s across The Withered Lands, and on foot, that could take days. Scotty doesn’t have days!” 

Evan glanced between them, and seemed to also notice the distraught on Jonathan, Marcel, and Anthony’s faces. Brock was staring down at the ground, his face unreadable, but now that the tension bled away, there was only a desperate feeling that sang between them all.

“How does it look?” Evan asked Brian.

He came out of his shock and looked down at the pages. His hands were shaking. “Purple and green, it glows at night...a blue shade. The Sev plant is native to the kingdom of Sevaria. They can only be found there.” 

“A kingdom?” Anthony asked, sounding intrigued.

Brian nodded. “From what I know of it, it’s desolate for the past few centuries. Completely covered in ruins. It’ll be easy to find it without people hoarding the damn thing.” 

“You make it sound like they’ll be able to find it,” Tyler said. 

“We will,” Jonathan said, helping Evan to his feet. “How long do you think Scotty has?”

Tyler glanced behind him before frowning at them. “I’m guessing—”

“Five-six days,” Brock interrupted. “The Sevaria Kingdom is a week’s journey, possibly two since you’ll be venturing across The Withered Lands, and it’s full of incredibly large sand basilisk’. I’m not even sure if you’ll survive the journey.”

Evan didn’t like their odds at the moment. “Scotty is going to die from a corruption because you summoned the Infernal that destroyed our homes, and is possibly burning down both the Plain and Quiet Woods, and four of our friends are also possibly dead from the same creature _you_ summoned and from the fires _it_ started. Oh, and I’m calling the forest, the Black Burn Forest, so get used to it.”

He didn’t exactly mean to sound ominous and full of annoyance at their hopelessness. Out of anything, even though he was exiled by the same people he wanted to save, he didn’t want them to die. Maybe he was too simple to live, but he knew he was humble enough to try and protect them from their own damn mistakes.

“If Scotty dies, we still have to find Lui, David, Jaren, and John,” Evan told them after a second when no one said anything. “We still have a chance to save the others.”

Marcel looked to Anthony, then back at the rest of the ones who were now standing with Tyler, Jonathan, and Evan. “So we sit here...and watch Scotty die?”

“We can’t bring him into The Withered Lands,” Jonathan said. “It might speed up the process. He has to stay where he’s safe.”

Marcel nodded reluctantly. “Alright then. We’ll stay...we’ll recover.” Evan caught the sorrow in his eyes, the disbelief. “When he dies, and once Anthony and I are recovered, we’ll come help whoever needs it after we bury his body.”

The tension shifted. This was inevitable, wasn’t it?

“We’ll do this,” Jonathan spoke more softly. “We’ll save them.”

Brian tore out a page from the tome and passed it to Evan. “This is a map of the continent. A bit of magic here and there is easy to create, but it’ll also show where you’ve been, in case you need to retrace your steps.”

Evan nodded, folding the paper and tucking it inside his coat. “I guess we’re doing this.”

The others agreed as well, and not as confidently as earlier. There was a rush, a desperation, it clung to them like a knife cutting into their skin. It was something they couldn’t rid, and it will stay with them once one of them finds their dead friends.

Evan hugged them each and climbed out of the underground hide out. The acrid smell of fire was thick in the air, barely smoke wafting upon the ground, but he could see it, and surely sooner or later, it’ll get more intense.

Tyler had told them that he’ll figure a way to stop it, and Evan almost had the urge to ask him. Jonathan, however, wanted to leave and not waste time.

“We have to be quick,” Jonathan said, leading the way.

Evan nodded, and then he tripped, and Jonathan looked back and let out a soft chuckle as he walked back over to Evan who was pushing himself up. He noticed Jonathan had gone still, and in the gloom, Evan realized what had caught his attention.

The bright blue glow of the diamonds he had grabbed when they left the Abysmal.

“You guys found diamonds,” Jonathan said, staring at it with wonder before passing it back to Evan.

Evan nodded, tucking the diamond away. “Yeah,” he said, walking beside Jonathan, “I forgot to give it back to Tyler and Brian.”

“It’s alright, with those diamonds, and if we’re lucky, we might find more so we could make you a sword like mine,” Jonathan grinned, showing Evan his glowing blue sword.

“Really?” Evan asked, excited for the chance he could discard the dented, cheap, sword he was currently carrying for one that was stronger.

“Eventually,” Jonathan said, his voice growing somber, “if we survive this quest.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a bit to update. LOL. Although faster than usual. 
> 
> My sister is my trigger. I loved her until she betrayed me more than once, and every time I see her, I get anxiety, and my voices kick in. I can feel myself going into a psychotic episode. :/ It's bad enough this whole Coronavirus is going on and my sister is homeless, she moves around throughout the city, so her walking into the house with a random guy almost made me cry. :/ I finally got it together around 3-4am to write this chapter.
> 
> This has multi-pov. :)
> 
> I hope you enjoyed, and I guess don't mind the tmi.
> 
> Comments and/or Kudo's are appreciated.


End file.
